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May. 27, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

'Reid must go,' say protesters on Strip

Organizer of event spotlights ad campaign against senator

By LYNNETTE CURTIS
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
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Slide show


Photo by John Locher.



People gather in front of Caesars Palace on Tuesday to protest Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. A fundraiser for Reid was held at Caesars later that evening, featuring President Barack Obama and entertainers Bette Midler and Sheryl Crow.
Photo by John Locher.



Keith Dean, a supporter of President Barack Obama, waves a flag Tuesday outside a fundraiser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., at Caesars Palace.
Photo by John Locher.



About 100 protesters gathered Tuesday outside Caesars Palace, where President Barack Obama appeared as part of a fundraiser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Photo by John Locher.

As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Barack Obama prepared for a fundraiser Tuesday evening to help get Reid re-elected, about 100 protesters worked the Strip in hopes of preventing just that.

Carrying signs and chanting slogans such as "Heave ho! Reid must go!" the protesters in front of Caesars Palace, where the fundraising concert was to take place, criticized Reid's "tax-and-spend," "big government" ways.

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    • "I'm not a big fan of what's going on in D.C.," said the 6-foot-4, heavily tattooed Dan Stephens, a local tattoo artist who brought his three young daughters and also-heavily-tattooed wife to the protest. "It seems like our representatives have forgotten who hired them."

    The mostly Republican protesters said they want representatives who advocate for small government and are against tax increases.

    "We need someone who shares our core principles: family, self-sufficiency, low taxes and getting government out of our lives," said Dean Meek, a 51-year-old property manager who was carrying a sign that read: "Don't tax me, bro."

    The protest was organized by Our Country Deserves Better PAC, a conservative, California-based political action committee that is campaigning against Reid's re-election.

    The committee held a news conference Tuesday morning in Las Vegas to highlight its $100,000 anti-Reid ad campaign. Radio, television and Internet ads calling Reid a tax-and-spender who does not respect the military were airing statewide, timed to coincide with the president's visit.

    Many of the protesters Tuesday evening said they heard about the event on talk radio.

    Passers-by cheered or jeered. Curious tourists stopped to ask: "Who's Harry Reid?"

    Hundreds others lined access roads to Caesars hoping to catch a glimpse of Obama as he made his way to the venue.

    "I came down to support Obama. He's such a refreshing change," said Parris Lane, 50, who waved a small American flag and chanted Obama's name in response to the protesters. "We have someone really smart in charge, who makes everyone feel like part of things."

    Inside, the line to get into the fundraiser snaked through the casino. Well-dressed concertgoers said they came to support Reid and could not pass up the opportunity to see Obama in person.

    "We supported him all the way from Italy," said Giovanni Coinu, a constitutional law professor there who was thrilled that his Vegas vacation coincided with the fundraiser. "We had T-shirts made up, and we followed him all the way to the presidency."

    Jeanne, a local, "over-50" business executive who declined to give her last name, said the $300 she forked out for her ticket would be well worth it.

    "I wanted to hear what the president had to say about Las Vegas," she said. "Plus, we get entertainment on top of it."

    Protesters outside criticized what the president had to say about Las Vegas not long ago, when Obama mentioned Vegas junkets as the type of corporate excess that federal dollars shouldn't be funding.

    "Shame on President Obama, pointing fingers at Las Vegas, and here he is campaigning for Harry Reid," said protester Karina Ostenberg, 29.

    "Reid needs to stand up for us," she added.

    Sharron Angle, a Republican former assemblywoman from Reno who is a possible Reid challenger for 2010, agreed.

    "He should at least have defended us," Angle said as she shook protesters' hands.

    At the morning news conference, Angle had urged donations to the exploratory committee for her candidacy, saying the strength of the financial support would determine whether she decides to run. Angle declined to disclose how much she has raised so far.

    "Money talks," she said. "With Harry Reid, it's going to take more than just good intentions. It's going to take a lot of money to take him out."

    Las Vegas Review-Journal writer Molly Ball contributed to this report. Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis@reviewjournal. com or 702-383-0285.

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    RURAL COUNTIES AGAINST SCARRY HARRRY wrote on June 16, 2009 09:26 PM: Remember folks, Clark county might be the largest county in the state, but the rest of Nevada is so fed up with Scarry Reid that it won't take many here to push him under. It disgusts me how he makes himself out to be such a hero of the little guy, when he INTENTIONALLY does everything in his power to wreak havoc on the rural counties of Nevada. It's pretty sad when he claims to be such a "small town boy" like he's got something in common with them, and he, as a STATE SENATOR hasn't made an effort to travel to some of our rural counties in years. Why? Because he's got a guilty conscious. You're days in office are numbered, my friend!!!


    a conservative wrote on June 02, 2009 12:25 PM: Reid is not only a liar but also Nevada's joke on the entire country.

    But, don't fret, he, Pelosi and Obama will give the entire country away to Mexico.


    a conservative wrote on June 02, 2009 12:19 PM: Reid is not only a liar but also Nevada's joke on the entire country.
    But, don't fret, he, Pelosi and Obama will give the entire country away to Mexico.


    Get him out while we still have a chance wrote on June 02, 2009 08:27 AM: The problem is Reid, it's our idiot Governor, Jim Grabbins!


    Eva wrote on May 31, 2009 02:53 PM: Its so amazing how most of the idiot commenters on here get completely off track. Instead of talking about the article you sit at the computer and insult each other. Which tells me you have nothing better to do with your day.

    In other news..... HARRY REID AND PRESIDENT OBAMA ROCKS!!! SENATOR HARRY REID NEEDS ANOTHER TERM IN OFFICE!!! DONT HATE. APPRECIATE!!!!! HARRY REID HAS DONE WONDERFUL THINGS FOR OUR NATION AS WELL AS OUR STATE. LETS NOT FORGET HE FOUGHT TOOTH AN NAIL SINCE HE WAS OUR LT. GOVERNOR TO STOP YUCCA MOUNTAIN FROM BECOMING A 100% REALITY. AND.... HE'S STILL FIGHTING TO KEEP IT FROM BECOMING A 100% REALITY TO THIS DAY. I HAVE KNOWN SENATOR REID ALL MY LIFE AND I HAVE BEEN ON SEVERAL OF HIS CAMPAIGN COMMITEES AND I WILL DO SO AGAIN. WALKING PROUD HEAD HELD HIGH MAKING SURE PEOPLE KNOW THE TRUTH AND FACTS ABOUT SENATOR REID. I HAVE VOTED FOR THE MAN SINCE I WAS 18 YRS. OLD AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO IN THE NEXT ELECTION!!!!!


    Harry R. wrote on May 30, 2009 04:44 PM: All of you non-mormons will pay for your lack of support. I shall not give in to your kind. My cult will thrive. my special interest groups will thrive. And I will lie to you idiots who don'r know anything and will be duped by my bs.


    NOBAMA 2012 wrote on May 30, 2009 04:16 PM: So what exactly did they spend on do you even know how much they spent and what it was for or are you just reinerating what liberal media tells you... In 4 years Obama will spend 2 to 3 times as much as bush did in his 8 years in office including the funding of the war... So you tell me who is out of control...

    Keep you thoughts to yourself if you cant back them up with real data....


    Tigerbalm wrote on May 30, 2009 03:54 AM: Out of towner Californians. I love it. I knew the Nevada GOP was in disarray but having to resort to outsourcing protestors? What a hoot.LOL.

    Too bad they didn't have the good sense to protest when Bush and the GOP legislators in Congress were spending like drunken sailors on shore leave. Sharron Angle get a clue you could not even be elected to the Nevada legislature much less the U.S. Senate. Keep spending on ads against Harry it helps the local economy but it's like pissin' in the wind.


    NOBAMA 2012 wrote on May 28, 2009 05:21 PM: Excuse me? Californians Idiots you guys are the ones that voted Reid in office and voted 55% in favor of Obama... The only fence that should be built is between Mexico and USA....

    PS there are Idiots in California too just like anywhere else in the world...


    Tara wrote on May 28, 2009 05:08 PM: "Based in California"--you lost me right there. I say we build an enormous fence between the two states once and for all to keep those idiots out.


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